Cutting the number of TV channels in major markets by 42 percent, as the FCC’s plan for spectrum auctions entails, would be a major barrier to the nascent service of broadcasting terrestrial programming to mobile devices, NAB executives said. There was some variation in executives’ assessment of the threat from voluntary incentive auctions the commission may get congressional authority to hold as part of a deal between the White House and Congress on lifting the debt ceiling (CD July 20 p1). The executives of the association, who spoke to reporters Monday in an effort to raise awareness about what they consider to be the shortfalls of the spectrum auction plan, agreed the mobile DTV hurdles would be major. And President Gordon Smith said the commission is withholding from the NAB and legislators a mathematical model that shows how stations’ coverage areas would be impacted by the repacking of TV channels to free up other frequencies to be auctioned for wireless broadband.

Wireless industry suggestions for pairing the 2 GHz mobile satellite service spectrum with other bands should only be based on the truly voluntary approach for incentive auctions, said S-band licensee TerreStar in reply comments in docket 10-142 (http://xrl.us/bk252q). The FCC sought input on how best to use that spectrum for terrestrial broadband. Any other context for pairing of the band “would present significant legal challenges,” said TerreStar, which Dish Network is buying. The emphasis must be on the voluntary approach to “allow the marketplace to make rational choices with regard to service deployment,” it said. Neither Dish nor DBSD, another S-band licensee that is also being bought by Dish Network, filed reply comments.

Comcast stepped up lobbying against a draft program carriage rule to make cable operators keep distributing independent channels while indies’ complaints are pending at the FCC. Lobbying last week at the offices of Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell came as the Republican is the only FCC member not to have voted on a draft Media Bureau order and further rulemaking notice. He’s concerned that the agency may violate the Administrative Procedure Act by issuing standstill rules before seeking specific comment on them (CD July 25 p8). The agency’s approach to the standstill requirement “is out of step with its general interest in engaging in predictable and orderly rulemaking,” Comcast Senior Vice President Kathy Zachem reported telling FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus.

AT&T filed two papers at the FCC addressing key questions raised about the company’s proposed buy of T-Mobile. One paper addresses the importance of local competition, while the second explains why carriers of all sizes will be able to get “cutting edge” LTE handsets at “reasonable prices” to sell to their subscribers. Both papers were heavily redacted for public release. Neither relates to the new competitive model recently offered by AT&T, which led FCC staff last week to halt the 180-day “shot clock” on the merger. AT&T is to release that model early this week, a spokesman said Monday.

Congressional Budget Office estimates of how much the government will raise through a proposed voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum are no better than an educated guess, industry officials said last week. The CBO’s $24.5 billion estimate for revenue from proposed FCC auctions, after the cost of reimbursing broadcasters for their spectrum, has emerged as a key figure in the debate over spectrum legislation and even deficit reduction. But industry officials who closely track auctions say auction results are difficult to predict, especially at a time when the industry is changing.

An online survey of people with disabilities done by the FCC’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) found that at least some of the respondents had experienced problems calling 911 because of their handicaps. A majority wants to be able to text 911, rather than have to make a voice call. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has repeatedly emphasized the importance of giving 911 call centers the capacity to receive texts as well as voice calls.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell likely will vote against part of a program carriage order if changes aren’t made to a draft that’s been approved by all his colleagues, agency and industry officials said last week. They said he continues to have concerns about the Media Bureau order to require cable operators to keep carrying independent networks while indies’ complaints against the companies are pending. The order circulated May 3 by Chairman Julius Genachowski and approved by him and the other two FCC Democrats would require standstill carriage. It would begin once the bureau finds an indie made a prima facie case that a distributor gave less favorable carriage to it than to an operator-affiliated channel (CD July 13 p3.)

Verizon’s Q2 profit came in at $1.6 billion versus a loss of $1.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. It added a total of 2.2 million subscribers, including 1.3 million postpaid customers, bringing the total connections to 106.03 million.

Invitations to serve on the FCC’s diversity committee will be made shortly, as work on the Universal Service Fund “soon” will culminate in a comprehensive order, Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus told minority and women communications entrepreneurs Friday. A day earlier, Commissioner Robert McDowell told the Minority Media and Telecom Council conference (CD July 22 p7) he worried about delays in changing USF to also fund broadband and in rejuvenating the Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff told the Federal State USF Joint Board last week that the order on USF and intercarrier compensation (ICC) will be ready for the October meeting, an FCC official told us.

The FCC’s decision over who has liability for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations committed by a third party is expected to have a significant effect in the world of telemarketing and telemarketers’ contracts with retailers, observers said. The FCC was asked earlier this year by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Cincinnati, to weigh in on the law’s ambiguities for a case on who is ultimately responsible for TCPA violations by telemarketers hired by Dish Network. A lower court dismissed the original claims, but the plaintiff appealed (CD Jan 3 p5). The FCC isn’t tasked with reviewing the specifics of the case, only interpreting parts of the law the appeals court considered vague.